Welcome

I have been working as a family therapist offering infertility counselling for over 20 years. These are the main areas of my expertise:

psychosocial infertility counselling for individuals and couples

preparation for family building with the assistance of donor gametes (egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation)

supporting parents who intend to talk to their children as well as family and friends about the donor conception of their child

supporting couples who have experienced miscarriages, stillbirths

couple and family therapy

training for professionals

Many of my scientific articles are published in English and I have also written chapters for English books. I also provide many of the news in the „News“ section (scroll down) on international developments and in English. I speak English fluently and offer counselling and therapy in English. If you are interested in counselling, training or in books and articles on infertility counselling, feel free to browse through the various sections of my website. If interested, you can contact me by telephone or email. If you subscribe my „News“, you can read about new books, TV shows, radio contributions etc. both in German and in English. Dr. Petra Thorn

Are you interested in numbers?

Here some on my skills and experiences:

years of infertility counselling

reviews for journals

Books and articles

contributions to magazines, radio and TV

trainings for professionals

participation in international conferences

presentations

%

commitment to infertility counselling

For individuals and couples seeking support

I known that it is not easy to experience a crisis and to find out that you do not have sufficient resources to master this crisis on your own. Infertility can be such a crisis. If your wish for a child is not fulfilled and you are considering medical treatment, counselling can help you to be informed about all medical and non-medical ways of building a family. Counselling can also support your decision-making for or against medical treatment. If you decide to undergo treatment, it can help you to survive the emotional roller-coaster. Last but not least, it is important for some to draw limits, to decide when to stop treatment and to develop an alternative life plan. Click the sections below to find out more (these sections are all in German):

There are many Links to external websites with information on infertility, egg donation and donor insemination, also in other countries. And you can establish contact (Kontakt) to others experiencing infertility and to families following egg and sperm donation – for many, this contact helps to normalize feelings and to find out about others‘ experiences.

In the article "A demographic projection of the contribution of assisted reproductive technologies to world population growth" the authors argue that ion the year 2100, 150 to 390 million people will directly or indirectly owe their existence to ART procedures. Here...

You can read more news if you scroll further down as well as in the archive.

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Contact

Please ring me if you would like to schedule an appointment, find out abut training opportunities or presentations. The best time to reach me is in the mornings between 9.00 and 12.00 o’clock.

If you cannot reach me personally, you can leave a message with my secretary during my office hours (Monday to Friday 8.00 to 18.00 o’clock). Outside of these hours, you can leave a message on my answer phone. I will ring you back as soon as possible.

Dr. Petra Thorn
Langener Str. 37
64546 Mörfelden
+49 06105 22629

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For Colleagues

If you are interested in professional information on infertility counselling and psychosocial aspects of infertility, have a look at these sections:

Training for general as well as specialized infertility counselling (i.e. gamete donation etc.) is offered by the German Society for Fertility Counselling –BKiD

If you are interested in training possibilities or would like to ask me for presentations, feel free to ring me or send me an email.

What has evolved from my work as an infertility counsellor

Aa a social worker and family therapist I have been working as an infertility counsellor for over 20 years. From the very beginning, I have focused on family building by donor insemination and from the very beginning, I have supported disclosure. When counselling and facilitating seminars, I often felt that couples would like to be open about the way they built their family, but they felt anxious and were worried about negative reactions from family members and friends.

Books for children
As early as in the 1990is, in the Anglo-Saxon world, books for children conceived by donor insemination were published. About 10 years ago, these books inspired me to write similar books in German. Together with Tiziana Rinaldi, an Italian artist, I have written several books. She has a magnificent way of painting wonderful, dream-like illustrations that are so typical for especially young children. In 2006, these books led to the foundation of my publishing house FamART (Family Building with Assisted Reproductive Technology).

Books for parents and professionals
In the last years, together with her and with other authors, several more books have been created. In addition, colleagues approached me and asked if I was interested in publishing other books on family building with medical assistance. This has become the current programme of FamART, which you can see and/or download on the left. I am certain there will be more books in the future…

Dr. Petra Thorn

FamART Catalog

as a PDF to download – please click the photo – click here to get to the website FamART

News

Whenever I come across some news worth reporting I post them here on my website. These include new books, announcements about radio and TV contributions as well as interesting articles from abroad in English. You can subscribe these news, see on the right „subsribe News“.

In the article "A demographic projection of the contribution of assisted reproductive technologies to world population growth" the authors argue that ion the year 2100, 150 to 390 million people will directly or indirectly owe their existence to ART procedures. Here...